8/10/2019 2007_08_26 Get That Project Started
2/4GEARS August 2007 27
shop, too.
If youre tracking your rebuilding
time youll want to think about it first.
Dont try to track all of your rebuild
times; youll never get a handle on
them and get discouraged. First find out
which transmission is the most com-
mon in your shop, and begin with that.
Figure 1 shows an actual list oftransmissions from a shop that
partici-
pated in our Whats Working study. It
shows the rebuilds the shop did over a
two-week period. Naturally, the more
weeks you track, the more accurate
your data will be, but in this case you
can easily see the 4L60E, at 13 units,
was the most popular. In fact, it repre-
sents 29% of all the rebuilds they do.
From there, youll want to know
how long it takes your rebuilder to
rebuild a 4L60E. There are several
ways to measure this, and well cover
that in another article. The point is,
Measure the data based on the question
you asked in the Define step.
DMAIC Stage 3: AnalyzeNow its time to Analyzethe data.
Well use the male/female ratio for
this example: Suppose you counted the
number of customers that called and
the number of customers that actually
came in the shop. Is the ratio the same?
If your female numbers are below the
40% level, it might indicate your adver-
tising is unappealing to women.
On the other hand, if your call-in
ratio is significantly higher than your
walk-in ratio, it indicates your advertis-
ing isnt the problem. Maybe female
customers drive up to your shop and
keep going; the appearance of your
shop is the problem.
Then again, maybe your ratio is
fine but your overall customer count is
Figure 1
8/10/2019 2007_08_26 Get That Project Started
3/428 GEARS August 2007
down. Here you dont have a gender-
specific issue; its just that no one is
calling or coming in. In that case, you
need to look elsewhere.
If your overall customer count is
down, you may want to begin by sur-
veying your customers. Even though
these are the customers who came in,
they may still have some issues with
your shop; they just werent bad enough
to cause themto go elsewhere.
Or you could survey them on how
they heard about you. You might be
surprised to learn that the advertisingyouve been using is
completely inef-
fective, and the only customers youre
getting are from referrals. Referrals
are great, but this may indicate your
advertising isnt good enough to gener-
ate a call on its own, without a recom-
mendation from someone the consumer
trusts.
Another thing you gain by going
through the Define and Measuring
steps properly is, if you go to a training
seminar or management program, youhave relevant questions to ask
and you
can really narrow your focus to areas
youve already identified. You can give
the management expert some real data,
and the advice you get will be far bet-
ter than the generic response theyve
prepared for the program.
Imagine going into a training pro-
gram and your only reason to be there
is business is bad. So you get a couple
good, general ideas, but you dont real-
ly get something that addresses seriousproblems with your
business, because
you havent taken the time to identify
those problems.
The reason? You havent put the
problem in the form of a question a
question that causes you to take action.
In fact, if you look up the word prob-
lem,youll find a definition something
like this: A question to be considered,
solved, or answered.
Now, before we leave the Analyze
phase, consider this: So far weve been
discussing CTQs; Critical To Quality
components. That is, the y of our for-
mula. The things that are important tothe customer and give us
value entitle-
ment. The Define and Measure steps
are related to CTQs.
When you go into the Analyze
phase of the five-step process youre
still consideringCTQs, but during this
phase you switch your focus to CTPs
(Critical To Process). Figure 2 illus-
trates this idea. The formulay = f(x) is
transformed to CTQ = f(CTP). As you
can see, the Define and Measure phases
focus on the CTQs, where the Improveand Control phases focus on
the CTPs.
Its the Analyze phase that bridges the
two.
DMAIC Stage 4: ImproveThe Improve phase takes the
ideas, training or variation-to-process
concepts you addressed in the Analyze
phase and puts them to work. What you
do here depends completely on what
part of your business youre trying to
improve, based on what you discoveredin the first three steps of
the process.
For example, if your male/female
ratio is 90/10 for customers that
come through the door, but its 65/35
for customers that call, you might con-
clude your problem is the appearance
of your shop.
On the other hand, if your ratio for
call-ins and walk-ins is the same, but
low overall, you might look at differentforms of
advertising.
Whatever decision you make, you
put it to work during the Improve
phase and continue measuring the
results. Here youre going to Measure,
Analyze and Improve Measure,
Analyze and Improve. If something
works, you continue in that direction; if
it doesnt, you change direction.
Recently, Toyota took the lead in
car sales, unseating General Motors.
Toyota is a company steeped in a pro-
cess known as Lean Manufacturing,
which was actually developed by its
founder, Sakichi Toyoda. Part of Lean
Manufacturing is a process known as
Kaizen; translated it means continuous
improvement. This is more than just a
catchphrase, and if youre interested,
theres all kinds of information on it on
the internet. The point is that its minor
changes over a period of time that gives
you huge results.
DMAIC Stage 5: ControlOnce you achieve the changes you
set out, you want to Control them, so
they continue to provide the results
you wanted. You dont just set it and
forget it.No, you continue to Measure,
Analyze and Improve continuous
improvement.
With only two months until Expo,
nows the time to identify some key
areas of your business to improve. Take
those key areas and put them in the
form of questions. If you can, collectdata related to your
questions and bring
them to class on Thursday. Well work
on these five key areas, so by Sunday
youll have an action plan you can put
to work the moment you get home.
Because, as Rodger Bland pointed
out in his Whats Workingarticle, page
22 of this issue, its people ofACTION
that get results.
Figure 2
MAKING IT WORK: Get That Project Started!
8/10/2019 2007_08_26 Get That Project Started
4/4
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New lower prices!Check with your Sonnax distributorSonnax
Associated Kit Part Number ApplicationPart Number
VB-FIX All F Series Tool Kits Multiple Applications
F-77754-TL4 77754-03K, -04K, TCC Regulator Valve Kits 4L60-E
F-77754-SERV 77754-03K, -04K (GM SERV), TCC Regulator Valve Kits
4L60-E
F-34200-TL16 34200-16K,Actuator Feed Limit Valve Kit 4L80-E
F-55211-TL 55211-01K,Actuator Feed Limit Valve & Sleeve Kit
5L40E
F-55211-TL4 55211-04K, TCC Regulator Valve & Sleeve Kit
5L40E
F-33000-TL 33000-03, TCC Control Valve 4T40-E, 4T45-E
F-84596-TL 84596-02K,Actuator Feed Limit Valve Kit 4T65E
F-56947J-TL2 56947J-05K, TCC Control Valve Kit 5R55N/W/S
F-56947J-TL15 56947J-15K, TCC Modulator Valve Kit 5R55N/W/S
F-73840-TL 73840-RK, Pressure Regulator Valve Kit CD4E
F-92835-TL 92835-21, Solenoid Switch Valve 41TE, 42LE, 45RFE,
42RLE, 545RFEF-22771-TL 22771-02K, Throttle Valve Kit
42/46/47RH/RE, 31/32RH, 727, 904
F-22771A-TL7 22771A-07K, Pressure Regulator Valve Kit RWD
Chrysler, '78 & UP
F-119940-TL3 119940-03K, Main Regulator Valve Kit VW/AUDI 01M,
01N, 01P
F-119940-TL5 119940-05K, Boost Regulator Valve Kit VW/AUDI 01M,
01N, 01P
F-119940-TL6 119940-06K, Solenoid Regulator Valve Kit VW/AUDI
096/097/098, 01M, 01N, 01P
F-119940-TL7 119940-07K, Boost Regulator Valve Kit VW/AUDI 096,
097, 098
F-119940-TL8 119940-08K, Main Regulator Valve Kit VW/AUDI 096,
097, 098
T
he Sonnax valve body
reaming fixture allows for
consistent reaming results,ease of use and access to bores
previously unserviceable with
standard bench style tool kits.
